Holy Innocents’ and St. Pius X won their first state volleyball championships, with the Golden Bears claiming the Class A title and the Lady Lions the AAA crown in state finals action at Marietta High School last Saturday.

Holy Innocents’ (32-14) defeated Hebron Christian 3-1 (25-18, 25-19, 24-26, 25-20) in the Class A finals to clinch the school’s first state crown in volleyball.

“I’m very proud of these girls,” Holy Innocents’ coach Taylor Noland said. “This is the original group that I cane in with and they worked every match to earn what they accomplished [last Saturday].

Haley Collins had 22 kills and eight aces, while Sarah Porter had 62 assists and Sarah Joe had 14 kills to lead the Golden Bears.

After Holy Innocents’ won the first two sets, Hebron scored the last four points of the third set to come back from a 24-22 deficit and win 26-24 to close the gap to 2-1 before the Golden Bears won the fourth set to close out the match and earn the Class A title.

“Hebron Christian is an incredible team,” Noland said. “We knew we would be challenged and we’re so proud of the opportunity to play them in the finals. We couldn’t have asked for a better opponent.”

Holy Innocents’ advanced to the finals with a 3-2 (25-17, 17-25, 27-25, 18-25, 18-16) win over Eagle’s Landing Christian in the semifinals last Wednesday.

St. Pius X (48-7) claimed its first state crown with a 3-1 (25-21, 25-22, 22-25, 25-18) victory over Area 5AAA rival Blessed Trinity.

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